Spool for threads, yarns and the like



Sept. 6, 1966 M. R. PHILIPS 3,270,980

OR T

VVVV NTOK MICHAEL R. PHILXPS QTTOENEY United States Patent 3,270,980SPOOL FOR THREADS, YARNS AND THE LIKE Michael R. Philips, Park Ridge,N.J., assignor to Jonathan Temple & Co. Inc., Hackensack, N.J., 'acorporation of New Jersey Filed Mar. 25, 1965, Ser. No. 442,737 9Claims. (Cl. 242118.7)

My invention relates to an improved spool for threads, yarns and thelike, and particularly to expendable spools for the wire servingindustry.

Wire service is the process of wrapping a wire with an insulatingfibrous material to provide a continuous covering or coating for thewire. The most important of these fibrous materials is fibre glass.

In serving a yarn of filamentary thread of the fibrous material onto thewire, the spool that carries the yarn is mounted on a hollow, rotating,spindle through which the wire is drawn in an axial direction. Thespindle and spool are rotated at a high speed as, for example, 4000revolutions per minute while the wire passes axially through the spindleso that the yarn of fibre glass is drawn from the spool to be wrappedevenly onto the wire. When the yarn has been drawn completely from aspool the empty spool is destroyed and a new spool is moved from areserve to replace it so that the winding may be continued withoutcutting the wire.

Spools currently available for this use are of two types. In one typethe core and flanges forming the spool are of cardboard. In this typethe spool is loaded by winding the yarn of fibre glass onto the core bycross winding and then the flanges are pressed onto the core.

One of the disadvantages of a package comprising the spool and thread oryarn thereon is that the cross winding (which is necessary for theproper building of a stable package) is somewhat injurious to the fibreglass because of the rapid angular changes in direction and the brittlenature of the material. Moreover, a parallel wind packs more of the yarninto a given volume. The assembly of cardboard flanges after the windingnecessitates leaving space outside the flanges for security of grip.This space is wasted from the standpoint that it would be better filledwith yarn.

The other type of spool is one with a cardboard core and plastic flangesmolded in place on the core. This avoids some of the disadvantages andproblems of the first mentioned type by permitting parallel winding ofthe yarn and omitting the wasted space outside of the flanges.

The second type of spool, however, creates a problem when the spool isemptied and is to be replaced because the plastic sides are diflicult tobreak. When the flanges are broken loose pieces tend to fly about. Alsothe core cannot be made to fit exactly on the spindle so that it usuallyrequires reaming or shimming to make it fit.

The spool of my invention avoids and eliminates these and otherdisadvantages and problems of the prior spools.

The spool of my present invention is made in one piece of molded plasticand is so constructed as to facilitate breaking when the spool isemptied and is to be removed. The cores of the spools of my inventionare provided with inner surfaces which will fit securely spindles ofwinding machines having outer, spool-bearing, surfaces varying withinpermissable tolerances without the necessity of shimming or reaming andwithout risk of slipping on the spindles during rotation.

The spools of my invention are in one piece of molded organic plastic,such as a polystyrene or other similar plastic. The inner surface of thecore is slightly tapered from one end to the other, which permits readyremoval of the spool from the core of the molding machine. A number ofridges or vanes spaced circumferentially about 3,270,980 Patented Sept.6, 1966 the inner surface of the core of the spool and extending axiallyare formed on the inner surface of the core. The inwardly projectingapices of these ridges are substantially equidistant from the axis ofthe spool. At the smaller diameter end of the spool core they arepreferably flush with and merge into the inner surface of the core andproject radially inwardly from the tapered surface progressively towardthe opposite end. When the spool is mounted on a winding spindle theseridges or vanes are compressed slightly, the plastic being suflicientlyresilient, to grip the spindle and to accommodate spindles of slightlydifferent diameters.

To enable the spools to be broken easily and cleanly from the windingspindle grooves, preferably two diametrically opposite axially extendinggrooves, are formed in the inner surface of the core and are continuedradially outwardly on the outer surfaces of the flanges. These groove donot weaken the spool when it is loaded with yarn but, when it is emptyprovide lines of fracture which cause the spool to separate into twoeasily removable halves, for example, when the spool is fractured forremoval from the spindle.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an end view of a spool embodying a preferred from of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the spool shown in FIG. 1, a part being brokenaway to show the construction;

FIG. 3 is a section of the core on the line 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section of the core on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section on a larger scale of a portion of thecore of the spool taken on line 55 of FIG. 1'; and

FIG. 6 is a section similar to that of FIG. 4 showing the distortion ofthe ridges or vanes when pressed onto the spindle.

Referring to the drawings, the spool comprises a hollow tubular core 10molded integrally with apair of side flanges 11 and .12. The core andthe flanges are molded of a plastic, such as polystyrene, in a singlemolding operation to form a spool without seams, or separate partsjoined together. Other organic plastics may be employed which have asuitable stiffness and rigidity, the chemical compositions of theplastic being immaterial.

The inner surface of the core 10 is slightly tapered, particularly ifthe spool is molded with a tapered core to enable the core to bewithdrawn after the molding operation. Thus in the embodiment shown inthe drawings the inner surface of the core will increase slightly fromthe left-hand end, as viewed in FIG. 2, to the right-hand end as, forexample, by a slope of 0.010". This is indicated by comparison of FIG. 3and FIG. 4 and is shown in a larger scale in FIG. 5.

In the inner surface there are also provided in the molding operation anumber of ridges or wings 13, four being shown by way of example,extending in an axial direction from one end of the spool to the otherand spaced uniformly about the circumference of the core. At theleft-hand end these ridges may merge with the inner surface of the coreor may rise very slightly from the inner surface of the core. This isindicated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the ridges 13 being larger in FIG. 4 than inFIG. 3.

The apices of the ridges are equidistant from the axis of the core, thatis, they all lie in a cylindrical surface centered on the axis of thecore. Consequently when the spool is forced onto a spindle these ridgesor wings are slightly flattened, as indicated in FIG. 6, the spindlebeing indicated at 14. This insures that the spool will engage thesupporting spindle l4 uniformly and tightly throughout the entire lengthof the spool so that no shimming or other adjustment is required toobtain a tight fit. In this connection it may be noted that the plasticwill have a slight resilience which permits it to flatten sidewise, asshown in FIG. 6, as the spool is mounted on the spindle. A furtheradvantage of this construction is that the spool will tightly grip thespindle and thus avoid a slippage between the spool and the spindle.

In the core there is also formed at least two longitudinal grooves 15and 16 preferably spaced diametrically opposite. These grooves extendfrom one end of the spool to the other. The flanges 11 and 12 havegrooves 17 and 18 extending from the ends of the grooves 15 and 16 tothe outer periphery of the flanges. As is also shown in FIGS. 1 land 2,the thickness of the flanges decreases from the inner periphery to theouter periphery. The grooves 15-18 form lines of fracture for the spoolwhen it is being broken to remove it from the spindle after all of theyarn or filamentary material has been withdrawn. The grooves do,however, cause the spool to break on the lines of the grooves when it isfractured for removal.

It will be evident that more than two sets of grooves may be providedbut there is no advantage in this as the two sets of grooves shown aresuflicient.

The invention, therefore, provides a spool of inexpensive constructionon which yarn or thread or filaments may be wound with a parallelwinding and with a maximum space for the windings and which may bereadily fractured into halves which may be readily held and removed fromthe spindle to permit a succeeding spool from a supply to be slipped inplace. This enables the spools to be quickly replaced with a minimumstoppage of the serving apparatus.

What I claim is:

1. A spool for serving thread or yarn to a wire, said spool being amolded thermo-plastic organic composition and comprising a hollowcylindrical core and a pair of flanges one at each end of said core, theinner surface of said core being slightly tapered from one end to theother and having ridges directly on said tapered surface spacedcircumferentially about the inner surface of said core and extendingapproximately from end to end of said core, said ridges taperingcomplementary to the taper of the inner surface of said core, the inneredges of said ridges lying in a cylindrical surface to rest on the outersurface of a supporting spindle and being distortable to accommodate aspindle of slightly larger diameter than that of a cylindrical surfacetangent to the inner edges of said ridges.

-2. The spool of claim 1 in which the inner edges of said ridges mergewith the inner surface of said core at the smaller diameter end of theinner surface of said core.

3. The spool of claim 1 in which said ridges are triv angular in crosssection with their apices lying in a cylindrical surface.

4. The spool in claim 1 in which said core has at least two groovesspaced circumferentially about the inner surface of said core and eachof said flanges has grooves in its outer surface extending from saidgrooves in said core to the outer peripheries of said flanges.

5. The spool of claim 4 in which there are two diametrically oppositegrooves in the inner surface of said core and a pair of aligned groovesin the outer surface of each of said flanges extending radially from theends of said grooves in said core to the outer perimeter of saidflanges.

6. The spool of claim 5 in which the outer surfaces of said flangestaper from their inner peripheries to their outer peripheries and inwhich the depths of said radially extending grooves in said flangesdecrease toward said outer peripheries of said flanges.

7. A spool for serving thread or yarn to a wire passing axially throughthe spool which comprises a hollow cylindrical core and a pair offlanges, one flange at each end of the core, of rigid thermoplasticorganic composition molded into an integral structure, each of saidflanges having at least two grooves extending radially, each groove ofone flange being parallel with a groove of the other flange to formpairs of grooves, said core having grooves one for each pair of saidgrooves of said flanges and extending uninterruptedly from one flange tothe other in alignment with the grooves in said flanges, all of saidgrooves being of suflicient depth to provide lines of weakness alongsaid grooves for fracturing said spool into fragments.

8. The spool of claim 7 in which said grooves of said core are in theinner surface of said core and said grooves of said flanges are in theouter surfaces of said flanges.

9. The spool of claim 7 in which said grooves of said core join therespective grooves of the flanges.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,195,240 3/1940Chaplin et al 242118.32 2,615,650 10/1952 Betner et al 24246.3 X2,978,202 4/1961 Morin 242118.7 3,105,655 10/1963 Park et al 242-118.73,106,363 10/1963 Epstein 24268.5

FRANK J. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

O GEORGE F. MAUTZ, Examiner.

1. A SPOOL FOR SERVING THREAD OR YARN TO A WIRE, SAID SPOOL BEING AMOLDED THERMO-PLASTIC ORGANIC COMPOSITION AND COMPRISING A HOLLOWCYLINDRICAL CORE AND A PAIR OF FLANGES ONE AT EACH END OF SAID CORE, THEINNER SURFACE OF SAID CORE BEING SLIGHTLY TAPERED FROM ONE TO THE OTHERAND HAVING RIDGES DIRECTLY ON SAID TAPERED SURFACE SPACEDCIRCUMFERENTIALLY ABOUT THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID CORE AND EXTENDINGAPPROXIMATELY FROM END TO END OF SAID CORE, SAID RIDGES TAPERINGCOMPLEMENTARY TO THE TAPER OF